barry| Where did those Central Mass High Schoolers go? |
CROSS COUNTRY STATE FINALS |
| Good weather and a great crowd brought out record breaking performances at Massachusetts first trip to Tuft’s tough course for a state final. At first glance it was cold and windy on the hillside but once into the race runners had to concentrate more on the winding, challenging course and the depth of talent in each division. | |
| Gloucester’s string is over, but not before Josh Palazola and Sean Murphy have their say. Content to go out at a conservative pace, over the last half of the course they make a combined move and end up placing 1-3. St. John’s bettered predictions by placing six runners before Gloucester’s third. Along with Todd Glew (6th overall - 4th team scoring) and Ryan Burke (9th-6th) give credit to Dennis Sheehan, Dan Thibeault and Matt Coraccio for outdueling their Gloucester counterparts to bring home the team trophy. Amherst provided the surprise of the day (if their expressions while looking at the posted results is any indication). They also put all five scorers in front of Gloucester’s third and garner second place.Led by a big race by junior Owen Washburn and followed up by teammates soph Ian Marcus, freshman James Deitz, junior Matt Lacey and junior Andy Greeney Amherst looks like a team of the future. | |
Team Scoring: St. John’s (D) 44 (4,6,9,10,15) Amherst Regional 70 (2,7,17,18,26) Gloucester 90 (1,3,27,29,30) St. John’s (S) 123 (13,21,24,28,37) Brookline 141 (8,14,23,43,53) |
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| Individuals Watching the individual races proved this is not the course to try to lead from start to finish. Of the first three runners to the mile mark, the highest placement at the finish was 10th. Owen Washburn provided some of the best drama of the race pushing Josh Palazola to the limit before finally losing by three seconds. Congrats to some other runners closer to the front than predicted including Dave Wiechnicki (Monument Mountain-4th), Steve Meinelt (Masconomet - 5th) and Matt Robertson (Wahconnah - 10th). |
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1 Josh Palazola SR Gloucester HS 16:04.3 1 2 Owen Washburn JR Amherst Regional 16:07.8 2 3 Sean Murphy JR Gloucester HS 16:15.7 3 4 Drew Wiechnicki JR Monument Mountain 16:19.5 5 Steve Meinelt SR Masconomet Reg-Top 16:22.6 6 Todd Glew JR St.John's Prep.-Da 16:23.8 4 7 Eric Fiedler SR Minnechaug Regiona 16:24.3 5 8 Mike Piche SR Silver Lake Region 16:25.4 9 Ryan Burke SR St.John's Prep.-Da 16:31.5 6 10 Matt Robertson SR Wahconah Regional 16:32.1 11 Ian Marcus SO Amherst Regional 16:32.7 7 12 George McArdle JR Brookline HS 16:33.4 8 13 Chris Grange SR Central Catholic-L 16:34.1 14 Zekarius Hebtemichael SO Cambridge R&L 16:34.4 15 Tim Galebach SR Andover HS 16:37.7 | |
| Division 2 Boys Mohawk scored a convincing win over a balanced East Bridgewater team 58-95. Thanks to a 1-4 finish by Neal Graves and David Burnham the score wasn’t really close. Matt Moss, John-Paul Shattuck and Simon Taylor completed the scorers for the repeat state champs. The challenge is on for next year as three of the top five are graduating. Even though East Bridgewater’s top runner didn’t cross the line until 16th place (10th team scoring) their team running strategy helped them upset highly touted Oliver Ames. Thomas Smith, frosh Tom Morgan, Dennis Sheppard and Shawn White finished within 13 seconds of each other. #5 Kevin McCabe was only 55 seconds behind their #1. Hockomock League Oliver Ames and Mansfield grabbed the next two spots. |
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Team Scores
1. Mohawk 58 (1,2,12,21,22)
2. East Bridgewater 95 (10,11,17,19,38)
3. Oliver Ames 135 (4, 24,34,36,37)
4. Mansfield 144 (9,27,28,33,47)
5. Whitinsville Christian 153 (3,23,30,40,57)
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| Neal Graves (Mohawk) sat back early. Later admitting that during the middle of the race “my legs didn’t want to move” and “I don’t think my body answered the call” nonetheless he found what he needed down the stretch to just outdistance a strong Matt Pimental (Austin Prep) over the last quarter mile. Those two, along with Hoosac Valley’s Bryan Dragon and Mohawk’s David Burnham all broke the course record of 16:03.2 set earlier this year by Graves. The top ten was the expected who’s who of runners. The most surprising of the bunch were the solid performances of seniors Chris Dunn (Mt. Greylock) and Benjamin Peisch (Bromfield) who made the most of their final state meets. Just as the team contests will show new names this year, so will the individual matchups. Only two of the top 13 runners will be returning next year. |
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Event 2 Division II Boys 5,000 Meter Run * Course: 16:03.2 Neal Graves - Mowhawk Trail Regional 10/09/00 1 Neal Graves SR Mohawk Trail Regio 15:41.5 1 2 Matt Pimentel SR Austin Prep HS - R 15:45.4 3 Bryan Dragon SR Hoosac Valley HS 16:00.7 4 David Burnham JR Mohawk Trail Regio 16:02.0 2 5 Jeffrey Engbers SR Whitinsville Chris 16:13.9 3 6 Adam Paicos SR Oliver Ames-No. Ea 16:27.8 4 7 Adam Tenerowicz SO Blackstone-Millvil 16:32.9 5 8 Chris Dunn SR Mt. Greylock Regio 16:35.2 6 9 Matthew Greigo SR Blackstone-Millvil 16:39.4 7 10 Benjamin Peisch SR Bromfield School 16:41.6 8 11 Matt Pieroway SR King Philip Reg-Wr 16:43.6 12 Bill Stanley SR Mansfield HS 16:49.5 9 13 Sean McKeon SR Millbury HS 16:50.0 14 Eric Burgess SO Harwich HS 16:50.3 15 Andrew Pitts SO Southwick-Tolland 16:52.7 |
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| Division 1 Girls Amherst Regional turned the tables on last year’s winner Barnstable. After suffering a close loss last year they pinned a 30 point defeat on Barnstable. Mary Kuhn, Amber Sayer and Nora Segar ran up near the front the entire race and came in within three second of each other at 5-6-7. Aidan Van Cleef and Anna Shamey finished out the scoring. Barnstable held on to second place by beating the Lexington team which had beaten them a week earlier. Sophomore Amy Lyon paced the team with a 4th place finish. She was followed by another sophomore Audra Callo, Marnie Schulenburg, Kate Klim and Carrie Golden. This matchup is bound to have more competition next year as Amherst loses one of their top runners and four of Barnstable’s top seven are seniors. Lexington placed third but couldn’t quite get into the race after a couple of their runners got off slow from the crowded starting line. Cambridge R&L got 4th which meant three of the top 4 teams came from the Eastern Division 1. |
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1. Amherst Regional 77 (4,5,6,23,39) 2. Barnstable 107 (3,18,25,30,31) 3. Lexington 134 (1,11,12,43,67) 4. Cambridge R&L 152 (13,22,26,34,57) 5. Westfield 177 (15,16,40,52,54) |
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| Individuals Natasha Roetter (Lexington) continued to impress everyone. Within 3/4 of a mile she had a 12 second lead. With a large contingent chanting “Natasha, Natasha” as she passed the mile mark you could just catch the slightest glimmer of a smile before she went back to dismantling the field. She went on to post a 35 second victory and smashed Ellen Beth’s course record by 50 seconds (5:33-11:17-18:07). She looked completely under control at the end and definitely left some gas in the tank for next week. Emily Johnson (Newton South) looked strong again and clearly held second throughout the race. She also bested the old record. Melissa Sherman (D-Y) went out slow and at the two mile mark was still back in 7th but over the last mile she put on the jets as she had the week before and jumped all the way up to 3rd. Amy Lyon (Barnstable) was ninth at the two mile but followed Sherman’s path and moved all the way up to 4th just 8 second’s behind. This will be a tough division for newcomers to crack into next year as only 3 of the top 25 runners were seniors. Included in the group were frosh stars Amber Sayer (6), Ashley Davidson (11) and Heather Wilson (24) |
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Event 3 Division I Girls 5,000 Meter Run
1 Natasha Roetter JR Lexington HS 18:07.7 1
2 Emily Johnson JR Newton South HS 18:42.6 2
3 Melissa Sherman SR Dennis-Yarmouth Re 19:07.6
4 Amy Lyon SO Barnstable HS 19:15.6 3
5 Mary Kuhn SR Amherst Regional 19:17.8 4
6 Amber Sayer FR Amherst Regional 19:19.3 5
7 Nora Segar JR Amherst Regional 19:27.0 6
8 Brittany Fallon SO Nashoba Regional 19:29.1 7
9 Christy Collins SO Concord-Carlisle H 19:29.5 8
10 Ellen Beth SR Wachusett Regional 19:29.8 9
11 Ashley Davidson FR Natick HS 19:33.9 10
12 Sally Girouard JR Fitchburg HS 19:36.0
13 Jenny Farrell JR Algonquin Regional 19:36.6
14 Allison Johnson JR Taconic HS 19:38.2
15 Catalina Palfreman JR Lexington HS 19:41.4 11.
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| Division 2 Girls Hamilton-Wenham surprised a lot of people when they came out the winner over St. Peter’s - Marian. St. Peter’s looked to be in great position early in the race but as time went on HW made their push. Sophomore Mia Swenson led the mid race surge then moved up from 5th to 3rd over the last mile. Dianna Chivakos, Michelle Poole, Courtney Barsanti, and Heather Arnold finished out the scoring for HW. The bad news for everyone else is that all but Chivakos are sophomores but they’ll have to find another runner by next year to fill out the squad. St. Peter’s placed second over Oliver Ames based on superiority in the #5 position. Freshman Amanda Baker gave them the final points they needed by beating OA’s #5 by a full minute. OA just edged a balanced Norwell team by 5 points on the strength of 3 runners among the top 16. Oliver Ames had two seniors among the scorers including overall #5 Erin O’Brien. St. Peter’s also had two seniors on their top squad but also boast a freshman and a 7th grader (Caitlyn Forgit - 55th overall). |
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1 Hamilton-Wenham Reg HS 79 (2 5 10 25 37 2 St. Peter-Marian 127 (4 13 33 36 41) 3 Oliver Ames 134 (3 7 9 44 71) 4 Norwell HS 137 (16 17 21 28 55) 5 Duxbury HS 179 (8 11 29 57 74) |
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| Individuals The early battle was between Jenn Campbell (Holyoke Catholic) and Stephanie Nugent (Arlington Catholic) as they passed the mile in 5:50. Only five seconds back was a small pack which included Molly Landreth (Newburyport), Marian Birhle (Belmont), Kristen Ettensohn (Bishop Feehan) and Oliver Ames’ sisters Erin and Katie O’Brien. By the two mile (11:57) it was Landreth and Campbell with Nugent only two seconds back. Birhle was closely followed by Mia Swenson and Dianna Chivakos of HW, E. O’Brien and Justine Whipple (Duxbury). The race for first was the best of the day as Landreth and Campbell ran side by side for the last mile and it wasn’t until the chute was in sight that Landreth opened up and held on for a two second victory. Not content to let those two share the spotlight Swenson moved from 5th to 3rd over the last mile, was still six seconds back with 400 meters to go and just missed catching Campbell at the line. Nugent held on for 4th and O’Brien 5th. Super final miles were also put on by Jessica Iannacci (Lunenburg) who came out of nowhere for 6th, Caitlyn Clark (St. Peter’s), And freshman Judy White of Athol. There will be plenty of changes next year as 6 of the top 15 (and 4 of the top 7) will be graduating. |
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1 Molly Landreth SR Newburyport HS 18:49.9 1 2 Jenn Campbell SR Holyoke Catholic 18:51.9 3 Mia Swenson SO Hamilton-Wenham 18:52.4 2 4 Stephanie Nugent SO Arlington Catholic 19:16.9 5 Erin O'Brien SR Oliver Ames-No. Ea 19:24.4 3 6 Jessica Iannacci JR Lunenburg HS 19:34.5 7 Marian Bihrle SR Belmont HS 19:35.7 8 Caitlyn Clark JR St. Peter-Marian 19:36.9 4 9 Dianna Chivakos SR Hamilton-Wenham Re 19:39.3 5 10 Judy White FR Athol High School 19:40.8 11 Margaret Frash SO Newburyport HS 19:42.3 6 12 Caitlin Schutz SO Hoosac Valley HS 19:42.6 13 Kristen Ettensohn SR Bishop Feehan-Attl 19:43.0 14 Katie O'Brien FR Oliver Ames-No. Ea 19:47.9 7 15 Justine Whipple SO Duxbury HS 19:54.7 8 |
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 05:18 PM